GLOW

From my searches online, it seems that the vegan souffle is one of those culinary holy grails. Most recipes available seem to utilize tofu or other soy products to mimic the texture of one made with eggs, though, and since soy is out of the question for me, I needed to find another way to recreate that unique texture, and fulfill a craving that I've had probably since Thanksgiving. I think this recipe is extremely convincing, and I'm pretty excited about the possibilities for future variations. Today was a gorgeous spring day in Boston, and I feel blessed that this lovely recipe was a part of it! 

In my last run to a local Indian market that recently relocated (Little India moved from Union Square to the old Milk Row warehouse by Market Basket), I picked up a bag of coarse chickpea flour or maghaj flour, and though I've been limiting my consumption of flour lately, the few times that I've experimented with it have yielded really interesting results that have me scheming up both savory and sweet dishes. The coarse flour behaves differently than its fine counterpart, and because it's a little bit harder on the digestive system, I've thought it the perfect flour to try soaking/fermenting a bit prior to cooking, a process that I've wanted to better acquaint myself with for a while. The flavor of the flour is wonderfully enhanced by the light fermentation, and no doubt aids in the slight rise of the batter when it bakes in the oven. I love that the ingredients are pretty minimal, too, and are fresh and seasonal for most this time of year. If you tolerate allium, I would definitely recommend carmelizing some shallots and adding them to the batter. I'm going to do my best to not think about how unbearably divine that would be. This is my second submission to Ricki & Kim's SOS Challenge for April, and I hope that you are able to enjoy it soon! 

1/2 CUP COARSE CHICKPEA FLOUR/MAGHAJ FLOUR

1/2 CUP WARM WATER

1 TBS APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

3/4 CUP ASPARAGUS PUREE

JUICE & ZEST OF HALF A LEMON

1/3 TSP APPLEWOOD SMOKED SEA SALT (OR SMOKED SEA SALT OF YOUR CHOICE)

1/4 TSP AGAR AGAR POWDER*

1/4 TSP DRIED PORCINI POWDER (OPTIONAL)

PINCH OF STEVIA

1/4 CUP ARUGULA

1 TSP FRESH MINT

1/2 TSP ROSEMARY

GHEE OR OIL OF CHOICE FOR GREASING 

COMBINE FLOUR, WATER & VINEGAR. MIX, COVER AND LET SIT IN A WARM SPOT OVERNIGHT OR 8+ HOURS. WHEN READY TO PREPARE, PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT**. MIX TOGETHER ALL INGREDIENTS, ADDING THE HERBS LAST. GREASE THE RAMEKINS GENEROUSLY, AND FILL WITH BATTER. PLACE ON A BAKING SHEET AND BAKE FOR 35 MINUTES, OR UNTIL THE TOP IS A LIGHT GOLDEN BROWN.

Chickpea crisps with a hazelnut, basil & spring green pesto, roasted vegetables and salad greens. My mind is transitioning into Spring fare...

I've been craving this dish for seven years. That's right. I remember a misty day in Maryland when my dad and I drove to a small town on the coast, and stopped to have lunch in a little cafe nestled in the first floor of a white Victorian home. The town felt deserted, perhaps it was the off-season, or just a rainy weekday, but I can picture us sitting on the enclosed porch overlooking the quaint main street, and I can see myself perusing the menu and selecting for the first time in my life, "Crab cakes please." This was probably one of my first experiences with out-of-the-ordinary, phenomenal food.  (I'd never lived in a coastal area with abundant fresh seafood, so crab cakes were new to me.) The flavor was perfect...savory, melt-in-your-mouth perfect. I never ate another seafood cake half as good...until last week. I purchased a container of pre-cooked Wild Alaskan Salmon from Trader Joe's last week (so cheap!) that tasted a bit too much like the plastic container it came in. Yuck. I decided that instead of wasting it, I needed to come up with a recipe that would camouflage that unpleasant flavor without masking the tasty flavor of the fish. Thus, the Salmon Cake was born. (Does anyone else cringe at that phrase? Why can I say "Crab Cake" without blinking, but immediately think of sweet pink confections flavored with fish when I say "Salmon Cake"?) This is definitely one of the best things I've ever made, and it's such a simple formula. Really quick to prepare and cook, and full of all kinds of healthy protein and omega fatty acids to keep my nervous system happy. I'm already looking forward to cooking more of these up tomorrow with tonight's leftover salmon.

1 CUP PRE-COOKED SALMON

1/2 CUP LOOSELY PACKED FRESH BASIL

1/2 CUP ROASTED PISTACHIOS

1/2 CUP PUMPKIN SEEDS

1/4 CUP CHICKPEA FLOUR

1/2 TBS FLAXMEAL

1/2 TSP APPLEWOOD SMOKED SEA SALT (any smoked sea salt would surely suffice)

JUICE OF 1/2 A LEMON

1/4 CUP WATER

GRAPESEED OIL FOR FRYING

PUT NUTS, SEEDS, FLOUR, FLAXMEAL AND SALT IN FOOD PROCESSOR AND GRIND TO A MEAL. (MINE WAS A MIXTURE OF FINE AND SEMI-COARSE.) SHRED THE SALMON IF NOT ALREADY AND MIX WITH THE DRY INGREDIENTS ALONG WITH THE BASIL. ADD WATER AND LEMON, AND SHAPE INTO PATTIES.  HEAT A GENEROUS AMOUNT OF GRAPESEED OIL IN A PAN ON MEDIUM TO MEDIUM-HIGH HEAT. WHEN OIL IS HOT, PLACE THE PATTIES IN THE PAN AND FRY UNTIL GOLDEN BROWN ON EACH SIDE. 

I'm going to try to start a tradition of posting these this year. No recipe necessarily, just food that I love to eat. Hopefully it will, besides make you drool, give you some ideas of what to eat on a restricted diet. This week is a combination of some recipes I have posted previously. Oh dear, I would love to eat this every day.

Faux omelette made with garbanzo/fava bean flour, lemon thyme, lavender and rosemary. Served with mixed field greens and macadamia nut cream. Swoon...

 I was never the biggest fan of omelets, although more likely because of the adverse symptoms that would inevitably accompany my consumption of them than their flavor. Like many foods, I've always found the idea of an omelet to be superior to its reality. Protein breakfast packed with savory veggies, cheese and herbs? Fantastic. Migraine headaches, sinus congestion, muscle aches and strange brain fog that prevents me from formulating simple sentences? Unless I'm feeling particularly masochistic, I'll pass.

When I was happily living my days as a strict vegan, I could solve (I thought) this conundrum by fixing up a faux-egg dish with tofu. Mmm! Once I isolated soy as a trigger for nerve inflammation, though, I was stuck. God bless Kim at Affairs of Living for figuring out a solution to the soy-free egg scramble. She posted a recipe here that got the wheels in my brain working. In her post, she mentioned her goal of figuring out how to use a similar formula to make an omelet. The concept intrigued me, so I started experimenting myself. It didn't take long for me to work the recipe out to my liking, and since then I've made countless variations of it. The version I'm sharing with you here is Japanese-inspired, and appropriately, is also an entry for Kim and Ricki's (of Diet, Dessert & Dogs) Sweet or Savory Kitchen Challenge this month, where the featured ingredient is the sesame seed.

This recipe includes ingredients that you may not recognize. Mugwort powder is used in Japanese cuisine to flavor mochi, dumplings and soups. Any witches or mystics out there may also recognize it, as it is purported to aid psychic powers, and to cleanse divination tools. My books on herbalism say that it aids in digestion, is soothing to the nervous system, stimulates the liver, and is anti-parasitic. It has an earthy flavor reminiscent of green tea.  (Here is an interesting synopsis of its medicinal and metaphysical properties.)

Perilla seeds, or shiso, along with sesame seeds, are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are also necessary for the health of the nervous system. Both of these ingredients were purchased at a local asian market, Reliable Market in Somerville's Union Square. The ground kelp, which has countless health benefits, can be purchased from the bulk spice and herb section at Harvest Coop in Central Square, Cambridge.

1/2 cup chickpea/garbanzo bean flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp kelp granules (finely ground kelp)

1/4 tsp mugwort powder (aka sagebrush powder)

3/4 cup water

1 tbs fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about one lemon wedge)

1/2 tbs tahini

1/2 tbs green perilla seed (aka shiso)

1 tbs sesame oil

sesame seeds (or Seaweed Gomasio if you're a salt hound like me) for sprinkling

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and add the water a 1/4 cup at a time to work out the lumps. Add lemon juice, tahini, and then the perilla seeds. Pour the tablespoon of sesame oil into a heated (medium heat) 10-inch non-stick pan, and turn to coat. Pour the batter into the pan. It should settle fully into the base of the pan, but help it with the back of a spoon if it doesn't. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on the batter immediately, before the batter starts to set. Cook this way until the edges start to look slightly crisp, and the bottom is golden brown in spots. Carefully work a large, flexible spatula (like this) around the edges of the omelet until it is loose. Work the spatula under, and quickly flip. Cook until bottom is golden brown.

Transfer to a plate and serve with salad greens and tahini, sauteed greens (mizuna! mustard greens! chard!), homemade seed cheese, or whatever else suits your fancy.